Search This Blog

Internet Use Makes Us Less Cocky -- About What We Know, At Least

I suppose it makes sense. But a new study says that the Internet is making us less quick to say we know things.

Sure. That's because anyone anywhere can look up just about anything to confirm you're right (or wrong).

People are less willing to rely on their knowledge and say they know
something when they have access to the Internet, suggesting that our
connection to the web is affecting how we think, according to newswise.com.

Professor Evan F. Risko, of the Department of Psychology at the
University of Waterloo, led a recent study where the team asked about
100 participants a series of general-knowledge questions, such as naming
the capital of France. Participants indicated if they knew the answer
or not. For half of the study, participants had access to the Internet.
They had to look up the answer when they responded that they did not
know the answer. In the other half of the study, participants did not
have access to the Internet.

The team found that the people who
had access to the web were about 5 per cent more likely to say that they
did not know the answer to the question. Furthermore, in some contexts,
the people with access to the Internet reported feeling as though they
knew less compared to the people without access.

"With the ubiquity of the Internet, we are almost constantly
connected to large amounts of information. And when that data is within
reach, people seem less likely to rely on their own knowledge," says
Professor Risko, Canada Research Chair in Embodied and Embedded
Cognition.

Does that mean we're lazy?

Researchers speculated
that access to the Internet might make it less acceptable to say you
know something but are incorrect. It is also possible that participants
were more likely to say they didn't know an answer when they had access
to the web "because online searching offers an opportunity to confirm
their answer or resolve their curiosity, and the process of finding out
is rewarding," newswise reports.

"Our results suggest that access to the Internet affects the decisions
we make about what we know and don't know," says Risko. "We hope this
research contributes to our growing understanding of how easy access to
massive amounts of information can influence our thinking and
behavior."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

For all of you out there who got straight A's and scored high on your SAT (if you can remember back that far!), it doesn't necessarily mean that you can learn the visual skills needed to excel at tasks like matching fingerprints, interpreting medical X-rays, keeping track of aircraft on radar displays or forensic face- matching.

That is the implication of a new study which shows for the first time that there is a broad range of differences in people’s visual ability and that these variations are not associated with individuals’ general intelligence, or IQ.

“People may think they can tell how good they are at identifying objects visually,” says Isabel Gauthier, David K. Wilson Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University, who headed the study. “But it turns out that they are not very good at evaluating their own skills relative to others.”
In the past, research in visual object recognition has fo…

Researchers from Leeds Beckett University are challenging the myth that extreme sports enthusiasts push themselves to the max and take risks no matter what the consequences.

Wingsuit flying is a relatively new parachute sport which involves a specifically designed jumpsuit that facilitates forward motion and directional control, according to newswise.com. It is considered the most dangerous parachute sport as it involves flying close to structures at speeds of over 200 mph, where a mistake or accident would most likely result in death, the web site maintains.

“When you think of the people involved in such extreme sports, you tend to think of risk takers who push themselves to the limit," says Dr Eric Brymer, a Reader in the Carnegie School of Sport. &quo…

How can something invented barely 20 years ago in Japan (has it really been that long?). And who came up with the word???

In any event, a new report investigates what effect they have on pretty much the last place you'd expect them. The workplace. Or, at least, the places I worked. In fact, sending and receiving emojis in the workplace could have an impact on productivity and innovation in the workplace, according to newswise.com.

University of Delaware management professor Kyle Emich has explored the effects of emotions on teams and performance and is now taking on what effect, if any, they have on innovation and productivity.
"In our lab, we normally induce emotional states by showing people happy or sad video clips or pictures," he tells newswise.com. "For example, we…

I'm in the frenetic, not fast, lane, writing a medical technology web column about robots and imaging and all the ways you can stave off aging (if only) and essays about parenting without losing your sanity, and trying to raise a 10-year-old!